Thursday, December 6, 2012

Santa Hat Chex Mix

I have been making a variety of chex mixes as Christmas gifts this year. (Who doesn't like to receive food?!) You can view the previous chex mix posts here and here. This recipe however, was by far the most fun and the most time intensive. But aren't the little santa hats totally worth the time? :)

(Printable recipe below.)

You start off with one bag of red candy melts. I wasn't paying attention to how much melts I was using, so I used a little over one bag. (Good thing I bought a second bag for "just-in-case"!) Melt it directly in the microwave.

And take some tasty Bugles. Cookies and Cups used Caramel Bugles but I couldn't find any. I mean, I went to three stores! I used about 2/3 of the bag... and then some for munching.

Dip the bugles, one at a time, into the melts. I held each bugle by the bottom of the cone, where it opens because that part will be redipped later. Place on wax paper to set.

Pour some white nonpareil sprinkles into a bowl and remelt your melts if they have gotten too hard. Redip your bugles into the melts, opening side down and immediately coat with the sprinkles.

Push a mini marshmallow on the tips of each bugle. If they don't stick, put some melts in between.

And presto! Santa hats! They looked so adorably yummy all lined up on my wax paper. :)

Now chex mix time! I mixed pretzels, craisins, peanuts and chex together in my largest bowl.

I melted 12 oz of white chocolate and drizzled it over top of the chex mix. Carefully, carefully toss so that all the chex mix is coated in white chocolate and nothing gets crushed.

Spread on wax paper to set. I put mine in the fridge on a cookie sheet to speed up the process. Genlty break up the chex mix into bite sized pieces and add your cute santa hats and some holiday M&Ms.

And behold... Santa Hat Chex Mix!

I put mine in mason jars. I covered the tops of the lids with wrapping paper from Ikea and added two colors of raffia around the neck of the jar. The mix made a total of 7 jars... that's A LOT of deliciousness!

Santa Hat Chex Mix

by Lindsey

Keywords: snack dessert white chocolate peanuts chex chocolate

Ingredients (7 mason jars (14 or so c))

1 bag red melts

2/3 bag bugles

2 c mini marshmallows

1/2 container white nonpareil sprinkles

5 c chex

1/2 c craisins

2 c salted dry roasted peanuts

12 oz bag holiday M&Ms

12 oz bag white chocolate chips

5 c mini pretzels

Instructions

Melt the candy melts in the microwave.

Dip the bugles in, pointed side down and evenly coat the outside.

Place on wax paper to set.

When all the bugles are set, dip the open side into the melts and immediately coat with sprinkles.

Push a mini marshmallow on the tip of each bugle. Use a bit of melts to secure it, if needed.

9 comments:

Now that is a labor of love! Wow, they are so cute! I make a mix every year to give as gifts, but not so sure I could do the Santa hat thing! I love it though! You need to get EXTRA cudos for the Santa hats! Impressed!I truly hope that those who receive your mix and grateful for all that you do!

This is awesome and everyone appreciates homemade! And that's what you guts do best. Just found your blog and had to look at the orange ornaments. I just did a post on them...just about the making of them, I was waiting for them to dry and really was late on doing a post so I left everyone hanging! lol! Strung them tonight as garland and it looks great. I will post that soon. I sliced mine a little thicker because they shrink and for some reason powdered sugar absorbs some of the juice.

Also, I am so ready to make the salt dough ornaments. No stamps regretfully. I'm thinking of making them three dimensional by stacking shapes. Hope it works out...I appreciate your tips!!